“I’ve always pushed myself since I was a little kid,” Croft said. “I always wanted to do things that no one had ever done. When people say I can’t do something, I want to do it.”

Hononegah’s Chris Finlen, who threw for 6,551 yards and 42 touchdowns at Northern Illinois, was the last Division I quarterback from the NIC-10, and he started as a walk-on at NIU 18 years ago.

Guilford’s Len Williams, in 1988, was the last Big Ten scholarship quarterback from the NIC-10. Williams started 43 consecutive games for Northwestern, throwing for an area-record 7,487 yards and 44 touchdowns from 1990-93.

Croft didn’t have any connection with Minnesota coach Jerry Kill when Kill led NIU to the MAC West title in 2010. He committed to Minnesota after wowing coaches at their summer camp June 22 and receiving a scholarship offer the next day.

“Minnesota is on the rise,” Croft said. “Coach Kill, when he was at NIU, he brought them up to what they are right now and I am expecting that to happen at Minnesota as well.”

“It was a pretty tough choice,” Croft said. “I always told myself I didn’t want to take a Big Ten offer just because it was a Big Ten offer. A lot of the MAC schools offer a great education too, but I liked Minnesota, my parents liked it, my brothers and sisters liked it, my aunts and uncles liked it.

“And their offense is a good fit. It’s similar to what we do at Boylan with most of the same concepts.”

The 6-foot-6, 187-pound Croft started last year at wide receiver before switching positions with 2012 quarterback Brock Stull in the second quarter of Boylan’s second game. Croft’s explosive running ability added a new dimension to Boylan’s offense. He ran for 685 yards and 12 touchdowns and passed for 1,879 yards and 16 touchdowns, with only four interceptions, as Boylan finished 12-1.

Croft is rated a three-star prospect by 247Sports, receiving high marks for his athletic ability, but marked down a little for having less experience than other top QB recruits. The site called him “one of the most overlooked prospects in the country,” rating him No. 13 in the nation as a dual-threat QB and the No. 8 overall player in Illinois. Steve Wiltfong, director of recruiting for 247Sports, Tweeted that Croft could wind up being the best of the six Big Ten quarterback commitments this summer. He also wrote that Penn State, Arkansas, Michigan State, Missouri, Stanford, Purdue, Illinois, Indiana and UCLA showed interest in Croft.

The Daily Gopher reports that Minnesota coaches liked Croft’s dual-threat potential so much they gave him a scholarship offer but did not do so to more stationary four-star prospect James Morgan of Green Bay, who also attended Minnesota’s camp.

Croft will be Boylan’s second Big Ten signee in four years. Defensive end Dean Lowry had four and a half sacks as a sophomore for Northwestern last year.

Croft doesn’t plan on being the last.

“I wanted to open up a little bit of a gateway to the city of Rockford,” Croft said, “so we can have Big Ten colleges and MAC colleges come out to watch NIC-10 football, not only for me but for other players and for the whole city.”